Fly Fishing: The Popper-Dropper Rig
Like a lot of kids, I spent most of my adolescent summers chasing bass and bream on the local creeks and ponds in my area. Most days, a single rubber-legged popper tied to the end of my leader, was all that I needed to catch fat bream and the occasional lunker bass. On days when the bite slowed, I’d put down my fly rod and head to the neighborhood pool with my best friend Ryan Evans. It didn’t take long for us to get labeled the Huckleberry Finn boys of the neighborhood. We got plenty of strange looks walking through those pool gates, fishing rods in hand, and both wearing cargo shorts with boxers hanging out the tops. Those dirty looks were well worth it, and we learned to shrug them off, because that pool was the perfect place for us to cool down in between our fishing adventures, and it also happened to be one of the best places for us to keep track of the older females. We learned reflective polarized sunglasses weren’t just good for fishing, they also were great for inconspicuously eyeing the older females, walking by in those skimpy bikinis. It was a time in my life when I was relatively stress free, and I had not yet taken on very many responsibilities. Those were the days.
Read More »Sunday Classic / The Cajun Spey Waltz
Snow is blowing in around the corners of my glasses and forty degree water is slowly making its way into my waders. I haven’t seen the sun for several days and the river is full of chrome bright steelhead. It doesn’t feel much like Louisiana. Never the less the tune that keeps dancing in my head and eventually to my lips is an old Cajun waltz, “The Big Mamu”.
I have a deep and conflicted love for Louisiana. I almost moved there once. Like I said, I’m conflicted, but of the many things I love about the place, maybe I love the music best. The Blues, the Hot Jazz, the Zydeco and the beautiful and haunting traditional Cajun music. The sound of the accordion, the fiddle and the washboard pull at my heart strings. I don’t know why but I loved it the first time I heard it. But what does it have to do with steelheading? Apparently, everything.
I love Spey casting but I don’t get to do as much of it as I’d like and consequently it takes me a while to get into the rhythm. There are three basic parts to a Spey cast. The anchor placement, the sweep and the cast. Inevitably, when my casting goes to hell it’s the timing of my sweep that’s the problem. I’ve spent so much time developing speed and strength for my saltwater casting that it takes a while for me to remember that Spey casting is the exact opposite. Slow and easy.
I’m not a Spey Guru so I’ll keep it simple. The sweep is
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Fly Fish Bonehead
By Carter Lyles
WE HAVE BEEN KEEPING OUR EYES PEELED FOR SOME REALLY COOL CONTENT, SITES, AND OTHER BLOGS THAT REALLY POP OUT AT US RECENTLY.
I came across a website not too long ago that will really click with all of our saltwater fly fishers out there… It is called FlyFishBonehead.
FLYFISHBONEHEAD.COM
WEBSITE FEATURES:
World Map: The site has a giant map of the Earth that you can explore by clicking on saltwater fly fishing destinations to learn more about the area, the fishing opportunities, the recommended lodges and guides, as well as the best times to go for different species.
Fly Tying Videos: These folks have got some killer flies… Things that I have never even thought of trying out before. What’s even better is if you sign up through Facebook and pay $24.00 a year (I was shocked at the small price too) you get access to the entire fly tying videos.
Fishing Calendars: Want to know when the best time to go to a certain destination is for all kinds of saltwater game fish? That’s a stupid question… Of course you do! FlyFishBonehead provides you with destinations like Venezuela, South Pacific, Panama, Mexico, Bahamas, Guatemala, Florida Keys, Hawaii, Miami, Belize, etc…
Fish Species: Want to know more about a certain kind of saltwater game fish? The fish species bar allows you to do just that! Each page provides a plethora of information about the saltwater fish and a series of flies that are recommended to catch them.
Conservation: FlyFishBonehead is involved with a series of conservation programs such as 1% For The Planet, The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Del Brown Permit Tournament, and IGFA.
Read More »Adipose Boats Get Even Better
I LOVE NOTHING MORE THAN SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT PEOPLE I BELIEVE IN.
That’s how I feel about the folks at Adipose Boatworks. These guys from Montana make the best drift boat I’ve ever rowed. This year I was proud to have my Adipose at IFTD in Orlando. It was so cool to see how folks reacted to my boat. It’s plenty clear that I’m not the only one who loves Adipose.
Adipose has a couple of new tricks up their sleeve this year. The coolest being the new Pro-Loks oar system. Super high-tech oars and oar locks that are wonderfully smooth, amazingly light and completely silent. They’re pretty slick.
In this video Mike Ward walks us through the new features.
Read More »The Big C
IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SAY IT IN YOUR HEAD, THE FIRST TIME YOU HEAR A DOCTOR SAY THE WORD CANCER, IT’S LIKE GETTING KICKED IN THE NUTS.
The room is bright and cheery with yellow walls. Ironically, a wall of windows facing east floods the room with morning sun. The white paper crackles as I sit. A woman half my age asks me questions and I answer.
“No, no tobacco. Yes, several drinks a week. Yes, I’m allergic to penicillin. Yes, my father died of lung cancer.”
She turns from her keyboard, folds her hands and asks, “So, what brings you here today?” I lift my finger to my nose.
I am the most serious person you will meet when it comes to sun protection. I wear sunscreen that resembles caulk. I never fish without a buff. I often wear wide brimmed hats which don’t look remotely cool on me. I never fish in shorts or short sleeves. I wear sun gloves and SPF lip balm. I’m practically a vampire.
But between my dark glasses and the top of my buff, there’s this little spot. It’s about the size of a pencil eraser and no matter how I pull or slather or shade, I can not keep it covered. One sixteenth of a square inch on the bridge of my nose. One spot, smaller than a doctor fly, ninety-three-million miles from the sun. That’s all it took.
I’ve been poking and staring at that spot for a year, since it popped up last summer on a permit fishing trip. I didn’t get a permit. Instead I got this little flakey, red spot. I figured it would go away but it didn’t. It just hung around looking chafed and irritated, like a moody teenager. By January I figured I had skin cancer. So, why did it take me another eight months to drag my ass in to the dermatologist?
Read More »Sunday Classic / Don’t Let Yourself Get Numb to the Reward
Is that cookie cutter rainbow trout making you feel numb inside? Are you losing the feeling of reward lately on the water?
Two decades have passed since I caught my first trout on a fly rod, and even with all those years that have gone by, I can still picture that beautiful 12″ trout in my hands clear as day. I remember that little bugger coming up and crushing my parachute adams, like it was the first piece of food it had seen in days. The feeling of accomplishment and reward I received from catching that trout was so strong, it gave me a perma-grin ear to ear, and a natural high that lasted the rest of the day.
Nowadays I often find I’m becoming numb to the reward I get from most of my catches. Landing a big trophy fish or fooling a lone sipper on the far bank still gets my adrenaline pumping, don’t get me wrong, but they all seem to fall short of the feeling I got from landing my first 12″ trout. Why is that? Am I turning into a snob? I’m sad and ashamed to admit it, but I think I am. That’s why
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / The Fishing Poet
By Carter Lyles
MATT SMYTHE IS JUST AS GOOD A WRITER AS HE IS KNOWLEDGEABLE OF FLY-FISHING, AND HIS FLY-FISHING BLOG IS KILLER.
Matt grew up fly-fishing and took up his passion in writing as a freelance writer. I gave Matt a call the other week and we discussed fly-fishing as well as his fly-fishing journey.
Here’s what he had to say:
He created his blog, The Fishing Poet, as something fun and enjoyable to do for a passion that is near to his heart.
But Matt told me the main reason he began writing was because of his kids.
“I wanted to write because I wanted to have something my kids could see one day and cherish…something that their old man did,” Matt said.
When I asked him about his favorite article that he has written he couldn’t settle on just one…
“Carter, if I had to pick it would actually be a series of articles that I wrote about on our trips out to Idaho on the Snake River.”
Writing about his experience out west was definitely his favorite topic and I was blown away when I read his posts on the subject!
But….
You’ll have to visit his site: www.fishingpoet.com in order to read his thrilling and unique content! Check it out and I promise you won’t be dissatisfied! Awesome job by Matt and some very well written articles.
Read More »What This Graph Means For Fly Fishing
By Carter Lyles
FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN WHERE FLY-FISHING IS GOING AND ANY OTHER TOPIC, A GOOD PLACE TO LOOK IS GOOGLE TRENDS.
For the folks not familiar with Google Trends here is how it works:
Type in a subject
Google displays a graph of how many times over a series of years those keywords have been entered into their search function
It also shows us regional interest and other trending topics around what you typed in.
I recently searched “fly-fishing” and this is what I got from Google Trends…
June: This was the most popular month over a series of years that “fly-fishing” was entered into Google. My theory is that this is the beginning of summer break for a lot of people. It is also when Montana, Colorado, Idaho, and the other western states (Alaska) warm up and hatches are coming off. For the saltwater dudes and dudettes, this month means tarpon are coming up all around Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. A lot goes on for fly-fishing during the month of June!
November: This is the down month for “fly-fishing” being entered into the Google Search Function. My theory for this is that it is beginning to get cold again and people have been almost “fished-out” for the entire summer. If you look at the keyword fishing for Google Trends the summer is the most popular as well. November is the sign of winter drawing near and lord knows it is a flippin’ wild place in our households when the end of the year rolls around in December!
The Decrease In Popularity
As you can probably see in this graph…there is an obvious decrease in popularity over a series of ten years.
What does this mean??? Are we screwed???
Read More »Simms Freestone Waders, Simms Quality At An Amazing Price
THIS IS A GAME CHANGER.
One of the most exciting new products at the IFTD show this year were the new Simms Freestone Waders. Simms took home the best in show honors for both men’s and women’s waders this year. Only two of the seven honers they enjoyed, but significant in that the new Freestone Waders from Simms have fundamentally changed the wader market.
Simms has, for many years, held the distinction of making the best waders on the planet. Plenty of companies have tried their hand at making lower priced knock offs Simms waders. This year Simms has taken the bold step of knocking off themselves!
It’s a truly brilliant move and one that’s sure to shake up the wader market but good. Simms has produced a line of waders, in the Freestone, that incorporates all of the technology that makes their waders great, but is made in Asia. The result is a bona fide Simms wader at a remarkable price. Literally half the cost of the Bozeman waders.
Check out the video and learn all about the new Simms Freestone Waders.
Read More »In The Dark of Night
By Johnny Spillane
SOME OF THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD FISHING HAS BEEN AFTER THE SUN GOES DOWN. THE BIGGEST FISH IN THE RIVER COME OUT AFTER DARK AND THERE ARE SOME REALLY FUN WAYS TO FISH FOR THEM.
If you are anywhere there is a prolific caddis hatch, which is almost everywhere, swinging and skating caddis can be deadly. My favorite caddis pattern for fishing at night is the Goddard Caddis. It floats really well and skates across the surface with ease.
Typically when fishing at night I use much heavier tippet then I would use during the day because fish tend to slam flies harder and a lot of times you wont know there is a fish until you feel the tug. If the moon is bright enough, often you can still see the take as you would during the day, but if not, your going to have to rely on your sense of feel. Try using 2x first, and if that proves to be too heavy, switch to 3x but very rarely do you need to go any finer than that, even in areas that are heavily fished.
I like to fish the runs the same way I would fish a streamer. Starting at the top I’d make a cast towards the far bank, throw in a quick down stream mend and then let the fly skate across the surface. After each cast, take a step downstream so that you are covering all the water.
Another really fun option is to
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